Training thoughts, ideas, observations on the road of life to pedaling in circles really, really fast.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Weekend Warrior

Another kick ass summer weekend in the bag.

It started Thursday - when my flight was delayed by 1/2 hour down to San Jose. Luckily Alaska Airlines only charges $50 for the bike box, and is by far the cheapest way to travel. Rick Adams, the treasurer for the Hellyer track hosted Kenny, Annette, Christie and I in their amazing Palo Alto home. Upon arrival at their house, Rick whipped up a gluten free pasta dish that was super tasty! He's the man of the household - and stayed home with their two teenage girls while his wife worked. He was definitely the host with the most. Thanks Rick and Anne!

Friday morning we woke up and assembled our bikes. We didn't have to be at the track until the later that evening so we relaxed, took naps, did the lazy biker thing in preparation.

Have I mentioned how kick ass it is to have a teammate out on the track? Especially one so experienced and competitive as Annette? She rocked the Keirin. We had some awesome national competition out there - Jennie Reed, Becky Quinn, Cari Higgins, Shelley Olds, etc.

So I worked on being aggressive all weekend - and not thinking about making a move but just doing it. It really didn't come into play until the last race - but we'll get to that.

The points race was good - 15 women signed up. I went for a point in the first sprint and then Annette, Becky and Jennie countered. They were off the front and running from the gun. Unfortunately our race was only 24 laps, with 4 sprints every 6 laps. Shelley Olds bridged the gap immediately to the lead group and contested every sprint, and winning the overall title. She's dynamite! Meanwhile, 4 of us chased and chased to try and bridge together but due to lacking horse power, they stayed away till the very end. In retrospect, I should've attempted a bridge and exerted a lot more energy quickly, versus long term effort. Oh well. Becky was 2nd, Jennie 3rd, Annette 4th, Anna Lang 5th, Mary Maroon 6th, and moi in 7th. We dropped the rest of the field after the first sprint, which made it difficult to navigate around them. Talk about a shattered field.

The following afternoon was the Miss N' Out - and I stupidly boxed myself in. I knew better too - but had bad luck. Oh well. Annette managed 5th or 6th - she was on the podium all weekend with the exception of the scratch race. Which brings me to my break through. I followed the right wheels - Jennie is always a good bet. So is Becky, but Quinny is crafty so you have to watch it and make sure you don't get your wheel taken out by inattention. Jennie on the other hand is sure and steady - and won't waver at all. Proman was drilling the pace at the beginning - shelling some of the field and setting Shelley up for a solo attack. She hammered it off the front to stay away for the win. The field really didn't chase much - and we were somewhat hovering around 3 to 2 laps to go - and which point I put in a solid attack. The timing was good - I put 5 bike lengths on the group quickly. And then I just had to hold it, but my high end got the best of me and I was nipped at the line by jennie, Anna Lang and Becky. I almost had it though! It was a huge breakthrough for me - not thinking about going - just going. I'm grinning from ear to ear.

Somebody, uh hum, Kenny, thought it would be a good idea to take the 6:30am flight the following morning in order to make our 40k state individual TT. We barely made it in time - but with 15 minutes to go, we rolled in and I was off. Not my best effort - especially considering how tracked out I've been lately - but still not bad. I managed 6th - but Michele ROCKED it with a gold medal ride of 1:01:31. What a studette! I'm so proud of her!!!